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Posted By: warshawlaw

But what I said was that Ryan was the best I've ever seen when he was on. I had to except anyone who played before 1975 because I haven't SEEN them play.

WL is to some extent a function of your teammates' skills; I really don't consider it has highly in deciding who was the best pitcher. Look at Randy Johnson's 2004 year. His WL was mediocre because his team stinks.

My personal preference is the kuckleballer; I love watching a guy lob pitty-pat throws towards the plate and leave hitters twisting in the dirt, but when it comes to all-time selections, I have to go with power and big curves to start, specialty pitches to relieve. After all, if you can't see it, you can't hit it, and as Spahn observed, pitching is about disrupting batters' timing. I'll take Johnson, Clemens, Grove and Koufax as starters and relieve with Wilhelm, and let the hitters just try to adjust to the butterfly after seven or eight innings of hellacious heat and overhand curves and splitters.